Making the Grade: Passes/Fails for UFC 184: Rousey vs. Zingano
Ronda Rousey once again made a top contender look like easy money as she dismantled previously undefeated bantamweight Cat Zingano by armbar just 14 seconds into the first round.
Rousey has dispatched every top contender the UFC can throw at her and at this point she's even eliminating the question about her fights making it out of the first round. Lately, fighters can't make it to 30 seconds with the most dominant woman in all of combat sports.
But we already know the results from UFC 184, so we're going to dig a little deeper into the card from Saturday night to tell you who made the grade from the UFC's return to Los Angeles.
PASSES
Ronda Rousey Doesn't Get Paid by the Hour
UFC women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey must have an after-party or something to get to because she walks into the Octagon like the Terminator and walks out again in less time than it takes Bruce Buffer to say her name.
Rousey needed just 14 seconds to throw Cat Zingano's dreams into the trash can as she picked up her ninth win via armbar in her 11th fight career. Rousey isn't just good -- she's making this all look pretty easy. Maybe that's why C.M. Punk thinks he can do MMA?
I'm kidding (maybe).
That said, Rousey has beaten her past two opponents in a combined 30 seconds. She's beaten her past three opponent in a combined one minute and 36 seconds.
According to the California State Athletic Commission, Rousey made a disclosed $130,000 for her performance in the victory over Zingano. Now Rousey gets a back end on the pay-per-views sold, so chances are when the final UFC 184 numbers are doled out, she'll likely be looking at a $1 million payday. But for argument's sake, just look at what she's making for this fight based on her salary:
$9,286 per second.
Yeah, Rousey's not getting paid by the hour, folks. She's making more per second than the average American middle-class family of four makes in a month. If she somehow manages to top this new record-setting performance, UFC president Dana White might have to actually start setting up Rousey with fights in the men's bantamweight division because the women clearly can't hang.
Best Walkout in MMA
There's something to be said about setting the tone for a performance with a great walk to the Octagon, and right now there's nobody better in the business than Ronda Rousey.
Starting with her first fight against Miesha Tate in Strikeforce, Rousey has been walking out to the track "Bad Reputation" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and there's not a more fitting song for any athlete on the UFC roster today.
Add to that, the production team behind UFC 184 deserves a standing ovation for the subtle element added to Rousey's walkout Saturday night. As her music started blaring over the speakers in the darkened Staples Center, there was a solid 10-second pause before cameras actually captured the champion trotting to the Octagon.
The buildup was perfect, and it made Rousey's title fight feel even bigger. Thankfully her walkout was so dramatic, because she needed mere seconds to win her fight.
Brock Lesnar Still Draws a Crowd
The stars were out in Los Angeles on Saturday night to watch Rousey annihilate Cat Zingano in record-setting time. Her "Furious 7" co-star Vin Diesel was in attendance, and he freaked out when Rousey secured her latest victory. Mark Wahlberg, who worked with Rousey on the "Entourage" movie, was also cage-side to show his support.
But when it comes to UFC fans, the biggest attraction (both literally and figuratively) sitting nearby was former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.
Lesnar came strolling into the arena and sat directly behind UFC president Dana White for the entire main card. Speculation has been running wild for months now that Lesnar is contemplating a return to the Octagon, but the only thing we know for sure about the massive heavyweight? He still draws a huge crowd wherever he goes.
FAILS
Can You See? But Can You Fight?
Let's get the formality out of the way right now -- "Big" John McCarthy is one of the best referees of all time, and that will likely never be questioned. But even the best can make a bad call, and it happened to McCarthy last night at UFC 184 after an eye poke ended a fight between Roman Salazar and Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto.
Salazar got poked and immediately McCarthy stepped in to pause the action. He then told Salazar repeatedly that it was an accident, after he already got eye-poked earlier in the same round. Finally the doctor was brought in to look at Salazar's eye, and at one point McCarthy could be heard asking him whether he could see.
Salazar replied that he couldn't see out of one eye.
McCarthy then asked "But can you fight?" and that's where the world's most famous MMA referee gets a failing performance. Listen, the rules are set up to protect a fighter from himself in moments like these, and the magical words -- regardless of whether you like -- to stop a fight after an eye poke are three magic words: "I can't see." Once a fighter utters that phrase, 99 times out of 100, the fight is stopped immediately. Fighters are almost conditioned not to say it because they know proclaiming a loss of sight means the fight is over.
McCarthy gets credit for allowing Salazar plenty of time to allow his eye to clear up after the eye poke to see whether he could potentially continue, but once the pause in action has passed several minutes and the fighter is still saying he can't see, there's no need to ask him if he can fight. Clearly, he cannot.
Ultimately, the bout was ruled a no-contest in the second round.
No Mas
Ruan Potts hasn't exactly set the world on fire since debuting in the UFC -- he was 0-2 with two TKO losses going into UFC 184 -- but he still tried to go out on his shield Saturday night, taking on monstrous heavyweight Derrick Lewis. Potts missed an early kneebar attempt that looked like he would get his first UFC win finally, but alas the "Black Beast" slipped out and then started to rain down punishment on the South African fighter.
By the end of the first round, Potts looked beaten and defeated after missing his best chance to put Lewis away. In between rounds, Potts struggled to get up from his stool, and it appeared as if he wanted no part of a second round with Lewis. But instead of throwing in the towel and just living to fight another day, Potts' corner sent him back out to face Lewis again, and the fight ended a few moments later.
There's no way to sugarcoat it -- MMA is a violent sport where guys and girls are getting punched in the head for a living. If a fighter no longer wants to be punched, the fight should be stopped. Potts appeared to be done after round one, so why send him out for more in round two?
EPIC FAIL
What Does It Take to Stop a Fight?
It's been said a thousand times, but just for the sake of argument, here's No. 1,001 -- referees probably have one of the most thankless jobs in all of MMA. A good call in the Octagon gets applauded for a few minutes. A bad call haunts you forever.
Unfortunately, referee Jerin Valel falls into the latter category after a stunningly bad performance on Saturday night at UFC 184.
It all started with Mark Munoz getting caught in a rear naked choke in the first round of his matchup with Roan Carneiro. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt locked up the choke, and Munoz's face immediately turned an uncomfortable shade of red, and then his eyes rolled back in his head, and then his arms fell limp. It was only after Carneiro basically told the referee to stop the fight that the bout was actually called.
Then came the welterweight fight between Jake Ellenberger and Josh Koscheck on the UFC 184 main card.
Ellenberger locked up a guillotine choke and Koscheck fought valiantly to get out of the hold, but in the end he was lying on the ground with his opponent on top of him applying maximum downward pressure. Koscheck was done, but once again the fight wasn't stopped until well after it should have been over.
Yet somehow Valel failed to notice something as minor as a fighter literally foaming at the mouth from a choke!
The good news is the California State Athletic Commission has an executive director in Andy Foster, who is regarded as one of the best in the business when it comes to handling referees and judges within his state. He's one of the most hands-on executives for any combat commission in the country, and judging by his past actions, it would seem like Valel is going to get a call some time this week to talk about his failure as a referee this past weekend.
